odds

He's a bright light in a sea of darkness, a shining beacon of humanity, just like he was meant to be, and you're the darkness surrounding him

"This isn't what I wanted," he whispers.

His eyes are bright even as they drift open and closed.

"What did you want?" you ask, your voice grating, barely making it past your bone-dry lips.

He looks lost, and you've never seen him look so utterly defeated as he looks around, surveying the burning landscape. A few tears drift down his face, streaked with dirt and blood and he looks so destroyed. You open your mouth and force a few more syllables out.

"It wasn't in vain."

"How can you say that? Look around you. Everything's been destroyed. We lost, and you-"

"You're still alive."

He stops, stares at you, a look on his face that you've never seen before. He looks broken, and he is -- everything he's stood for has been annihilated. He finally met an enemy that was too big for him, so big that he came to you for help, offered you the one thing you'd always wanted -- a chance to be a hero. The man who represented everything you could never have gave you a chance to be a part of something, and you took that chance -- you took it right in the heart, in a flash of bright white light accompanied by searing pain that ripped a blood-curdling scream from your throat. You'd failed, but he's still here, ready to surrender, and you cannot let him.

"You're alive… And hope. I never had any, but you -- you're the living embodiment. You gave me hope-" you choke, splutter and cough and you're dying, oh god you're dying- "you can't quit now."

He looks panicked, and you almost laugh at the sight of the man whose eternal unhappiness you made your life mission kneeling over you as you bleed out in the middle of the apocalypse. But it was always going to end this way -- one way or another, it was always going to be him that survived while you died. You're almost comforted by the inevitably of your current situation -- almost. You can't say you're looking forward to passing, but if you had to pick you suppose this is the best option. At least your life ended significantly, in defense of something bigger than a petty grudge. He's starting to fade now, the edges of his frame blurring until he's indistinguishable from the dark background, and you're not upset. He's a bright light in a see of darkness, a shining beacon of humanity, just like he was meant to be, and you're the darkness surrounding him, finally snuffed out.

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